The Branding Spot is an Arizona based company that handles branded products and marketing for companies nationwide. Recently, Brett Kaufman, CEO of The Branding Spot, signed a contract with WorkXpress to completely reengineer the back-end process for one of the leading Experiential Marketing firms in the country. With a new method of talent tracking and event allocation management they will be able to utilize a potential 70+% increase in productivity through software automation over previous hand processes.
Follow along over the 5-week build cycle to learn more about how WorkXpress builds and deploys mission critical business applications.
Week 0
Six months ago, Brett Kaufman of The Branding Spot (www.thebrandingspot.com) and affiliates began the process that he believed was the only way to create the customized software he needed to run his business. Along the way, he learned there were far more hurdles and roadblocks littered with extra expense than he had originally anticipated. That was, of course, before he came across WorkXpress.
Brett Kaufman said, “Every process we desired to be automated or moved to an online portal was placed into the initial document. At that point, the only way we thought we could achieve our goal for an ideal software solution was to hire a coder and web developer to first build the software, then make the necessary web adjustments. After 2-3 months of back and forth negotiations, we realized it would be impossible using this route due to the huge financial cost. It would have taken 9-months to a year to build!”
Over the following few months, Brett researched other options including a few platform as a service (PaaS) offerings, namely Netsuite and Caspio. Unfortunately, with these solutions, they would have again needed additional developer time and expense to get everything they desired out of their software.
Kaufman continued, “The day before I signed with Caspio, I received an introductory tweet from Anna at WorkXpress. Intrigued, I held off my contract signing a few days to see a demo of the new platform as a service solution. After one meeting, I was sold. Here was a service that saved me money, provided ALL of the functionality I wanted and needed and it could all be finished within 5 weeks of contract signing.”
Week 1
After a few initial meetings, Kaufman and his company went back to the drawing board to revise their original document. With WorkXpress, they were able to increase the scope of automation while staying within budget. In the revisions, they added complex functionality unachievable without programming in other platforms.
Kaufman said, “Two months after our initial meeting, here we are in our first week of development. I’m amazed at the progress. In only three days, we already have a functioning talent registration section available for login via the web and are a good portion into our event allocation software. Actually being able to see our software being built and having the opportunity to make necessary changes along the way is exciting. We could not have been able to build or have built a software package even close to what we’re getting with WorkXpress from any of the other companies or options we researched.”
Stay tuned to weekly updates on the progress and final implementation of the The Branding Spot’s customized software platform.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Customer and Partner Continuity in the Cloud
Historically, when you purchased a piece of software, you were only dependant on the provider for updates and bug fixes. The software itself was assured to run, because it operated on your own machines, and under your own control. Still, you never had access to the source code, and if the maker went bust, or if you didn't like their terms of maintenance, cost of upgrades, or cost of support, you were left running unsupported software.
With custom-built applications, you always had the comfort of direct access to the source code if you needed support, however you didn't have anyone else to rely on. Also, one then had to shoulder the burden of many support needs typically provided by a software vendor. To some extent, an emerging class of open-source applications represents the best of both worlds, however outside of a few notable applications most are largely unsupported in the way required by a mission critical business application, and therefore not viable in the enterprise.
Today's software as a service model represents a particularly challenging business decision, as customers rarely have control over the platform, the code, the hosting environment or the data, and as such are completely dependent upon an evaluation of the business stability and commitment to the customers needs.
Cloud computing, and in particular Platform as a Service has opened up new questions about maintenance of business continuity for both customers and channel partners as they make important decisions about the longevity of their software applications and in fact their business.
In general, when evaluating cloud providers it is important to note that Cloud Computing and Platform as a Service are growing. You can expect that the industry will only take root over the coming years and that those vendors who can deliver value while enjoying a solid, stable business model and unique positioning will thrive and grow.
MODEL FOR EVALUATING CONTINUITY:
In general, one should consider (1) access to data, (2) control over hosting, (3) access to source code of the application, and finally (4) the business health and market potential of the software vendor as the main variables responsible for assuring continuity of your business should you adopt a particular piece of software.
1. WorkXpress is proud of its business continuity offering to both customers and channel partners, as it spans data ownership, access to code, control over the host environment and finally corporate stability and commitment;
2. Full access to all data via api's, reports and other methods. Data can be exported in any tabular format required by the exporter. Key fields can easily be defined in the exports
Export templates can be maintained and reused at later times
3. All WorkXpress applications can be hosted on the cloud of your choice, including a virtual appliance behind the firewall. In this way you are not dependent on any particular provider to maintain your application functionality. This choice can be changed over time as needed.
4. The five building blocks "code" behind any particular WorkXpress application remains the intellectual property of the creator. Therefore, a customer can elect to have full access to the 5 building blocks "source code".
5. In addition to this already substantial business continuity offering, for large customers, WorkXpress contemplates entering of platform source code into escrow, to ensure complete business continuity.
6. WorkXpress is committed to its customers and the quality of its product. To this end it is a privately held, revenue generating company that to date has not received venture capital funding, and therefore is not under pressure to behave in ways that run counter to its mission of customers and product.
With custom-built applications, you always had the comfort of direct access to the source code if you needed support, however you didn't have anyone else to rely on. Also, one then had to shoulder the burden of many support needs typically provided by a software vendor. To some extent, an emerging class of open-source applications represents the best of both worlds, however outside of a few notable applications most are largely unsupported in the way required by a mission critical business application, and therefore not viable in the enterprise.
Today's software as a service model represents a particularly challenging business decision, as customers rarely have control over the platform, the code, the hosting environment or the data, and as such are completely dependent upon an evaluation of the business stability and commitment to the customers needs.
Cloud computing, and in particular Platform as a Service has opened up new questions about maintenance of business continuity for both customers and channel partners as they make important decisions about the longevity of their software applications and in fact their business.
In general, when evaluating cloud providers it is important to note that Cloud Computing and Platform as a Service are growing. You can expect that the industry will only take root over the coming years and that those vendors who can deliver value while enjoying a solid, stable business model and unique positioning will thrive and grow.
MODEL FOR EVALUATING CONTINUITY:
In general, one should consider (1) access to data, (2) control over hosting, (3) access to source code of the application, and finally (4) the business health and market potential of the software vendor as the main variables responsible for assuring continuity of your business should you adopt a particular piece of software.
1. WorkXpress is proud of its business continuity offering to both customers and channel partners, as it spans data ownership, access to code, control over the host environment and finally corporate stability and commitment;
2. Full access to all data via api's, reports and other methods. Data can be exported in any tabular format required by the exporter. Key fields can easily be defined in the exports
Export templates can be maintained and reused at later times
3. All WorkXpress applications can be hosted on the cloud of your choice, including a virtual appliance behind the firewall. In this way you are not dependent on any particular provider to maintain your application functionality. This choice can be changed over time as needed.
4. The five building blocks "code" behind any particular WorkXpress application remains the intellectual property of the creator. Therefore, a customer can elect to have full access to the 5 building blocks "source code".
5. In addition to this already substantial business continuity offering, for large customers, WorkXpress contemplates entering of platform source code into escrow, to ensure complete business continuity.
6. WorkXpress is committed to its customers and the quality of its product. To this end it is a privately held, revenue generating company that to date has not received venture capital funding, and therefore is not under pressure to behave in ways that run counter to its mission of customers and product.
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